Sister Challenge; The Stairs

Sister Challenge; The Stairs

Sister Challenge; Sardines

Sister Challenge; Sardines

A Sister's Challenge

Hello everyone!

Happy Early Turkey Day!

I have so many Thanksgiving dinners this week!

I'm going to explode...

...but, it will be lots of fun!

The videos I sent are called "sister challenges."  I made up a game in the house.  You pick a Sister and shout "Sister's Challenge!" and then you give them a challenge.  Normally, I'm the boss at challenging all the Sisters.  

I challenged Sister Muldowney to eat a dead fish...

...she ate it like a champ!

Then she turned around a challenged me. 

I gagged it like a champ!

I did this in front of twenty'ish missionaries.  We were having a zone lunch and the Elders brought Saridean {my spelling has not improved}.

Yesterday I talked in two wards.  One ward was a missionary farwell. We ran out of time, and I went like 5 minuets over so Sister Porter was thrilled to only have to bare her testimony and sit down.  Then we talked in another ward, and yes I used the same talk. This time Sister Porter went first... she talked for like 5 minuets. She left me with 35 minuets to talk! Wonderful, right?!

Yep, I manage to elborate {how ever you spell that word} really good! So, by the time I was over there was about 5 minutes left.

Then someone from the Bishopric stood up and took up the rest of the time.

Well, that was my week in a nutshell. I love this ward so much! I want to stay here, so keep me in my your prayers that I should stay in the Granger South area :) Ha, it's been a blast!

My mission is so much fun, and it's super crazy hard! But I love it so much!

I can't believe I hit my 8 months mark this week, I'm almost half way there!

Man, does time fly by!

Well, I have to go buy some groceries.

I love you guys all soo much!!!

A Missionary Tour...So Cool

Hello Everyone!

So, sorry I didn't email anyone yesterday! Today is my P-day.

So, lets start out with some Funnies! Tuesday of this week I sit down to have breakfast, I make myself hot cocoa and toast. I sit down to eat it and I spill the boiling HOT cocoa on my lap! I just about burnt myself to a crisp! I run downstairs change my dress and throw my dirty one in the wash. Then I grab all my belongings and run downstairs for Personal Study, Well, I have this really talented gift of falling. Yep! You guessed I fell down the stairs!

So, now it's lunch time! I'm in a new dress and I make Chicken Alfredo. I dropped the entire bowl of Alfredo right on my lap :)   I changed my dress again.

Wait, it gets better!  At dinner with a MEMBER I am pouring me a glass of water. And the ice is blocking the flow of the water.  So, I shimmy it just a little bit, well I shimmied to hard and poured the ENTIRE pitcher of water on my lap, the floor, the table, and my food.   Yep.... it was great night! 

To top it off, it was a really cold, windy night and I didn't get to change my dress. So I was freezing!

I love my life!

Anyways! 

The reason I am emailing a day early is because our mission is doing a Mission Tour!

What is that you might ask?   Well, I'm not entirely sure.  But the General Authorities came and did an 8 hour training with us. 

Elders Clark and Elder Alanso came. Super Duper Great Men!

We got to walk and shake their hands and introduce ourselves. We then got to meet their wives and they gave us hugs and kisses! (Just the Sisters though)  So, kudos to me! 

They did an amazing training!  They taught us so much!  A lot things we can improve as missionaries.

Elder Alanso told some of his "missionary experiences".  He is a great example of how not to be afraid to share the Gospel.  He told a story of going to the Pharmacy one time, just to get a prescription filled.  And one of the lady's working said,  "Are you a flight attendant?"  He replied back  "No, I'm not", and she said, "So, your a nobody then?"  He replied back "I am a representative of Jesus Christ!", He then asked her to be baptized! Apparently she had been baptized in another religion but she listened to him, and was eventually baptized. The last time he saw her she was a counselor in the Relief Society Presidency.

He has an amazing life story!  He is a convert to the church, and just shared with us some wonderful experiences.

I had the privileged of eating lunch with Elder Alanso and his wife!  They are such humble people, he let us ask him anything!  And he gave us some great advice as missionaries.

Elder Clark did an amazing job too!  He is the 70 over our mission, so he knows all that is going on! My favorite training by him was on Tithing.  He expressed why it is so important to pay tithing, and that we should take our investigators to pay tithing. I thought that was so cool!  I have never actually taken someone to the Bishops office and said, "so-n-so" wants to pay their tithing.  So, that's on my plan of action to do.

He then had all the missionaries that were converts stand up and say how long it was before they started to pay their tithing after their confirmation. Not one did it right away, it was a few years after they had been baptize, and it was because it was something the missionaries didn't stress to much.

He also at one point had all missionaries stand up who were converts or less-active at one point in their life and tell why.

I have never realized how lucky I am to come from the family I did, almost every missionary was the only member in their family. A lot of the missionaries families refuse to write them because they are serving an LDS mission. There is one Sister out here, who didn't even tell her parents she was a missionary until a few months into the mission field. There are missionaries out here who literally have nothing, because their family will not support them. It's so sad.  But they are the strongest people I have ever met. They truly know what it means to give everything to The Lord

.

Another thing Elder Clark said that really hit me was  - "Members of this church do not have bad Husbands or Wives. They do not have bad parents. They do not have messy homes." If we are faithful Members of this church we won't have any of those things. He said if Husband and Wives would read the scriptures together everyday their lives would change.  Because to be a member of this church you have to Change.  So, basically he was telling us if a family struggles, and does not get along or have a clean home then the parents aren't reading their scriptures together and they better start doing it.

Elder Clark is a straight shooter.  He doesn't beat around the bush when he is talking.  He tells you how it is.

So, when they came they chose 8 missionaries to have a personal interview with them. My companion was picked.  So, as I waited outside for her to finish the door opens and I see Elder Clark pop his head out with his eye brows pointed down, and VERY stern look. He points right at me and uses finger gestures to come to him and says, "We need to talk!", My heart literally stops!  It is not everyday a General Authority demands you to come into his office. 

As my companion comes out of his office she has a nervous look on her face, so I'm thinking.. "Oh Crap!  What did I do?",  Sister Porter walks out of the room, and he says "No, you get back in here!"

So, we are sitting  there!  And he stares at me with a stern face!  (It seemed like forever) And then he says,

"Thank you so much for being a good trainer. Your companion loves you very much, and I want to thank you personally for you service and everything you do."

Then he went off about how he was interviewing and Elder one time and the Elder said he had a horrible trainer, and so I thought that was cool!

It's not everyday I General Authority pulls you in to say,  "Good Job!",  and to stop being too hard on myself.

We then proceeded to talk about track, because his daughter was an All-American Runner!  And you know me and track....

But Seriously, one of the GREATEST experiences on my mission!  It was so spiritual, and it's an opportunity I'll probably never get again.  And it was something I needed to hear, I have a tendency to be too hard on myself, apparently...

I could keep going on about everything that happened yesterday! But I don't think I have enough time.  Words can't express how grateful I am for this Gospel!  I LOVE serving a Utah mission.  The Salt Lake West Mission is where The Lord needed me.

I love you all lots!!!

Too Exhausted to Write

HEY GUYS!!!

Well, this letter will be crazy short.

1) I'm too tired to write

2) I can't think of anything too exciting

3) I'm being lazy.

So, it's just another week!  I am still preaching the word of God.  I haven't been sleeping well. The past two nights I kept waking up with minor stomach pains.  It is totally made me exhausted.

So Highlights of the week,

I broke my companion name plate.  Our ward mission leader makes them. They just say Sister Ashcroft or whoever you are.

Well Sister Porter's was sitting on her dresser and I knocked it off and broke the "s" so, I now call her, "ISTER PORTER"...

We had a sister spend the night for exchanges and she wanted soup so I made her some Tomato soup with milk... Oops, turns our she is highly allergic to milk.... my bad. 

I really love this area I serve in, I hope I stay here forever!!!!

The People are sooo nice to us, and they spoil us.

Utah is making me fat! I went to the DI today to buy new skirts, because nothing is fitting me any more, and the stuff that does fit, well Sister Joseph has stolen because nothing fits her either.

I was surprise to find some cute skirts there! I hit grandma Jack Pot!

Well, I have to get off! I will write a letter and send it in the mail! I'll try to make that letter more exciting.

Keep me in your prayers! I'm having a blast, but a mission is so hard!!!!!

I love you guys and really miss you all so much!

Have a great week!

A New Ward

This week! We are now in charge of 3 wards. The new Ward loves us Sisters :)

So, here was our fantastic Sunday-

7:30- Ridgeland Ward Council 

8:30- Memorial Ward Council

(Time for Splits)

9:00- Colony Ward Council 

9:00- Ridgeland Ward Sacarment meeting. 

10:00- Sunday School 

11:00- Relief Society 

11:00- Colony ward Sacrament meeting

12:00 Sunday School (we're finally together)

We taught Sunday School. The Lesson was Eternal Marriage. It was so difficult, since I have no experience at all. I soley relied on the Spirit.

1:00- Young Womens

1:00- Memorial Ward Sacrament 

2:00-Sunday School 

3:00- Young Womens/ Relief Society

Church ends at 4

4:30- Missionary Stake Meetings

5:00- Dinner

Then it was walking in the cold for the nest 3 hours, trying to make visits to people you missed at church.

Sunday's are so busy! I will never complain about going to a church meeting again!

But Sunday's are my most favorite days!

There are days out here in the mission field where you are just so happy! Everything is perfect! You love your mission, and it's the greatest thing in the world!

Then you have days where you are ready to go home. You hate it. Your sad and home sick. You just want to give up, and go home, because that's the easier way out. You keep asking yourself is this even worth it?

Sometimes those days can turn into more days and then turn into weeks. Before you know it, you have lost all desire to serve.

Just when you think you can't take anymore The Lord sends you a blessing.

It might be a "golden" investigator, or someone you have been working with prayed for the first time, or a letter from a family member.

Whatever it is, it makes almost everything go away!

The Lord sometimes doesn't let us know what to do. Sometimes He has us fail. A lot. Sometimes you feel like He has totally forgotten about you, but when reach your breaking point and turn to The Lord He lifts you back up!

Sometimes He has to let us feel miserable, to see how strong we are, and then show us how strong we can be.

Those bad days are going to come, we can't avoid them, but there are good days to come too! We just have to rely on The Lord to give us one.

I love this Gospel. It's true.

I love you all very much!

I am in the Dark

My Week!

Well, Transfers have come! And no Changes for us! We stickin' together!

Funny of the week-

Yesterday, I wake up, roll out of bed, and say my prayers!  I jump up and hop into the shower! I had just put shampoo in my hair and decided to shave my legs, since it was Sunday and it's  had been a few weeks.  {I still don't like shaving}

While shaving my legs, the electricity goes out. I nearly slice my leg off....

 I wait there for a minute, and then realize the lights are not coming back on. Well, I'm already scared of the dark, so I'm trying to hurry and get out of the shower. I then trip trying to get out of the shower. It's is completely black...

. 

I am rummaging around looking for a towel, while slipping and sliding I find something to wrap myself up in.... turns out it was Sister Porters skirt. (oops) I then realize I forgot to bring a towel...crap. Well, I found a cold, damp one in the corner.. ewww!

I Wrap it around me and open the door to find out it's just as dark. Since living in the basement, there is no natural light coming in anyways. Well, Sister Peltzer comes running around the corner shining a flash light in my face.

 "Sister Ashcroft are you okay? .... is that shampoo in your hair?"

I'm standing there dripping wet, with shampoo in my hair, shaving cream on my legs and trying to cover up in a cold, damp towel that I soon discovered was smaller than I thought it was in the dark. 

{Sorry, for the show sisters}

Then everyone comes running out with their Flashlights shining on me! {Apparently I am the only one who doesn't have a flashlight sitting by her bed} Just a wee bit uncomfortable. My land lady brought me my clean towels from upstairs and gave me a flashlight to use in the bathroom.

Well, I say, "show's over ladies" and shut the door and get back in the shower to finish what I started. I used the little light provided to finish showering. Then I turned off the shower got dress, and the lights came back on. Oh, Joy!

Yep, It was a great moment!

Well, that's all I have time to write for today! Sorry, but I hope you laughed.

I so grateful for all you guys! And the love and support I get from everyone! I absolutely love my mission. Even though it is the hardest thing I have ever done, I still enjoy all that I get to do! Keep me in your prayers and I'll keep you in mine!